Real Kato Blog: Republican National Convention Part III

Let me say this about John McCain. He's an honorable and decent guy. I appreciate it when he says he has respect for Obama and the Democratic campaign. I appreciate it when he admits that Republicans and Congress "lost the trust of the American people... when we valued our power over our principles". He has more class and humility than the rest of his party, who can seem to do nothing but criticize Obama for being charismatic.

It's really the Republican party that has lost its way. The party has embraced the ideals of its most far-right fringe elements. In the official party platform this year: abortion should be illegal even when a mother's health or life is at risk; there should be no path towards residency for illegal immigrants; gay marriage should be outlawed. These are all positions that McCain personally opposed in the past, but he since has capitulated to the Republican party (flip-flopped?) in order to win conservative support. A maverick? Maybe he was, once. But somehow, a good man has been dragged down by a party that is bent on a reactionary agenda.

It's an important thing to remember here: you're not just voting for a person when you vote for president, you're voting for a party and an administration, an executive branch with hundreds of federal appointees who represent their party interests. Sure, the character, charisma, and intelligence of the president himself are important. But you can't ignore the issues and the principles of the political parties when you cast your ballot.

Election day is Tuesday, November 4th.

Permalink 6 Comment

Posted by Ken in: politics

Comments

Comment #1 from Brett (Guest)
2008 Sep 4 - 11:36 pm : #

Noted.

So in your opinion, you believe McCain will enforce all the social agendas of the far Right of the Republican party and refuse to work with Democrats and Independents, upholding only the beliefs of his Republican Party?

Top of my head; Al Gore ("The Assault On Reason" positive references), Joe Lieberman (speaking at the RNC), Joe Biden (various speeches), and Ken Kato (http://www.realkato.com/blog.php?pid=1306), amongst others, would disagree with that.

And the fact that Ann Coulter hates him never hurts, either.

Comment #2 from Ken (realkato)
2008 Sep 5 - 8:01 am : #

No, I didn't say that McCain will personally make it a point to enforce the agenda of the Republican party if elected. I said (here, and in my earlier post) that McCain is currently allowing the party to define his positions for the sake of this election. And my point is that he is not alone in running the executive branch; regardless of his own willingness to reach across the aisle, the other members of his party (and the special interests that fund them) will not necessarily be so cooperative.

Comment #3 from Brett (Guest)
2008 Sep 5 - 5:51 pm : #

Cooperation, the lack there of, has always been one of my biggest pet peeves with national politics.

I imagine there are so many great ideas and possibilities that never see the light of day because of people's unwillingness to cooperate.

I still believe it's one of the reasons Bush never had a chance to be successful. He had no support from the "He's not MY president" crowd, and in his attempt to try and appease to them to try and prove he was a "uniter," he lost his support from Republicans. And in essense, this country tore apart. (Should be noted, I'm not a huge Bush fan, but I think had Bush done everything the exact same, and our citizens acted better, our country could have been better off)

My biggest issue with Hill-dog is an issue out of her hands. I believe that if she were elected president, she wouldn't be given the chance to be successful because Republicans would have played the same card that Dems played with Bush... and refused to cooperate. It wouldn't have been fair to her, but could Dems really say "we're allowed to do that, but you can't"? Both cases, I think is bogus.

You don't have to agree with the President on everything. But I think there are better ways to show your dissapproval.

It's the 'people' that make this country great, not entirely government. I'm a believer that if you don't like something, do something to make it better. And when you do, say "because it's the right thing to do."

Final 2 cents. If we're looking at over-all cooperation, I believe McCain would get more of it, than Obama would (minus the McSame crowd).

Regardless of who's elected, I wish them both well.

Comment #4 from John Corey (Guest)
2008 Sep 7 - 9:19 pm : #

i think the Dems learned that trick (lack of cooperation) when the Republicans tried to shut down the executive branch of Clinton. After Clinton passed the very conservative and cooperative bill (only 5 dems voted for it) NAFTA.

McCain just sees this as his moment. That is why he is more willing to follow the party line.

Comment #5 from Ken (realkato)
2008 Sep 8 - 1:16 pm : #

Bush never had a chance to be successful because he's not smart enough to understand that an issue might be more complex than can be expressed in a sound bite: e.g., "They hate us for our freedom." And note that Bush had PLENTY of support from Americans of every political stripe after 9/11, not to mention from people and politicans around the world, but rather than take advantage of all that good will, he decided to squander it on an ill-advised and poorly planned war.

Any talk of him being a "uniter" was just that: talk. Bush was a more polarizing president than any we've had in decades, if not ever.

Comment #6 from Brett (Guest)
2008 Sep 8 - 7:00 pm : #

Again, I never said "THE reason." I won't defend the guy as far as all his decision making processes go, either.

But, it had been a running joke that whenever anything bad happened it was somehow Bush's and/or his Administration's fault, regardless of what happened. No personal accountability. People acted as if their entire lives were dictated by what Bush and his Administration did that day. Where as I don't believe the government is put in place to wipe our bottoms, hold our hands and tell us everything is going to be ok.

Anyway, wasn't trying to start a debate. Disagree that McCain will buckle under the far-right Republican agenda if he were elected (my opinion). Abortion will never be illegal, regardless of who's in office (my personal opinion), none of the candidates from day one supported gay marriage (fact) so it shouldn't be an issue, and I believe there's a substantial difference between illegal immigration and legal immigration and it's not fair to those who have gone through the motions of doing it legally, nor to taxpayers (personal opinion). Will welcome rebuttals and I'll call it a day (but no cheap shots, eh).

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